Category: Unified Government Commission

UG plans to reallocate Park Drive improvement funds to repair domestic shelter roof

A plan to reallocate $400,000 from the Park Drive Neighborhood Revitalization project to the Friends of Yates Domestic Violence shelter repair moved ahead at Monday night’s Unified Government Administration and Human Services Committee meeting.

Wilba Miller, director of Community Development, said $570,000 had been set aside last year for the Park Drive revitalization effort.

However, she said she received word from the domestic violence shelter that they needed a roof badly. It is the only domestic violence shelter located in Kansas City, Kansas, according to the UG authorities.

Miller recommended reallocating the Park Drive funding to the life-saving services of the domestic violence shelter emergency repair project. Currently, the UG is the only funding source for the roof repair, according to Miller.

The remaining $170,000 left in the fund would go to the Neighborhood Revitalization project to install a new disc golf course at City Park, she said.

A public hearing may be held March 31, with a 30-day comment period, she said.

If approved, this change in the plans for the funding would have to be submitted to the Housing and Urban Development Department for approval, she said. The category for funding would be the same, a public facility improvement, she said.

If the roof repair did not require the entire $400,000, the leftover funds would be redirected back to the City Park project, according to Miller.

The motion passed the UG Committee unanimously and will go to the full UG Commission for approval.

UG committees to meet Monday night

The Unified Government Public Works and Safety Committee will meet at 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, with discussion of some grant programs on the agenda.

The meeting will be followed by the UG Administration and Human Services Committee, which will include an amendment to the Community Development annual action plan.

According to the agenda, the proposal for the CD plan is to reallocate $400,000 in funding from public facility projects in the Park Drive Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area to an unforeseen public facility project to address the safety and habitability of the county’s only domestic violence shelter. The remaining $170,000 budgeted for NRSA projects is anticipated to be used to install a new disc-golf course at City Park, according to the agenda.

Items on the Public Works and Safety Committee agenda include:

• Approval to submit Mid-America Regional Council grants for 2025-2026, submitted by the public works department. The deadline for the pre-application is April 1, 2022.

• Approval of a National Oceanic and Atmosphereic Administration grant application for environmental literacy and climate resiliency.

• Discussion of the Capital Maintenance Improvement Project weighting system, which is a scoring system for capital improvement projects.

• A resolution to purchase 21 debrifibrillators, 21 reusable sensors and 33 case review subscriiptions over four years for a total of $651,289.44.

• An update from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

Items on the Administration and Human Services Committee agenda include:

• A resolution to amend the Community Development annual action plan to reallocate $400,000 in funding from public facility projects in the Park Drive Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area to an unforeseen public facility project to address the safety and habitability of the county’s only domestic violence shelter.

• An update on the Human Services Department.

The meetings will be on Zoom, and are expected to be carried on the UGTV on cable television and on YouTube. The meetings also are expected to available for viewing in the lobby of City Hall.

For more information on how to participate in UG committee meetings, visit
https://www.wycokck.org/Departments/Clerks-Office/Engage-in-Public-Commission-Meeting.

UG agendas are at https://www.wycokck.org/Departments/Clerks-Office/Agendas-Minutes.

Garner gives up extra benefits

Mayor Tyrone Garner backed an ordinance on Thursday night that would cut the benefits the mayor could receive for accrued vacation time, compensatory time and sick leave.

The measure was approved unanimously by the Unified Government Commission. Under the change, the mayor also would not be paid for unused time upon leaving office.

At the Feb. 24 meeting, Mayor Garner said as an elected official, he doesn’t believe the mayor should accrue sick time. He said he doesn’t believe he should be paid any compensation beyond what was approved in the UG ordinance, and that he doesn’t believe he should receive benefits beyond the ordinance.

UG Chief Legal Counsel Misty Brown said the charter outlined the salary and benefits of the mayor. In 2017 the UG Commission voted to amend the compensation of the mayor. The charter ordinance originally said the UG mayor should receive the same compensation and benefits that the Kansas City, Kansas, mayor had received.

Those who are elected to offices traditionally do not accrue sick time, vacation time and comp time, Brown said.

However, past mayors have tracked and logged these hours, receiving compensation for them when they leave office.

Brown said there was a debate in 1997 whether the mayor should have vacation and sick leave. The issue went to the Kansas state wage and hour board, and a determination was made in favor of the mayor receiving those benefits, she said.

Brown said the change to the ordinance on Thursday night would apply only to the mayor, not to the staff of the mayor. The mayor’s staff members are UG employees and accrue vacation time, she said. The action taken on Thursday night also does not apply to any other elected officials, just to the mayor. The UG commissioners, who are elected, do not receive vacation time, according to Brown.

“I didn’t feel as an elected official, I should receive any benefits not given to any other official,” Mayor Garner said.

The ordinance leaves most of the provisions of Section 2-58 of Chapter 2 intact. The mayor’s compensation will not be less than $120,000 under the ordinance, and there is an annual cost-of-living increase approved in 2017. The cost-of-living increase will be based on the consumer price index and also on the average percentage of increases that UG negotiates with labor.

The ordinance also says the mayor will have medical and dental insurance, as well as participation in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. It also says the mayor will be provided a UG car with fuel and maintenance included.

In other action, Mayor Garner held a public comment time during the 7 p.m. meeting, in which residents were allowed to talk about issues related to the UG.

Several persons, including some former candidates, spoke at the meeting. The topics included a request for audits of the UG and BPU, and finding out why money is spent in one part of the county and not others; inclusion of minority developers on development projects; more employees who could return calls made to inspectors; a resident request that with any development in the county, 25 percent should go to Black developers and 25 percent to Hispanic developers; a request for police to look into shootings near 38th and Leavenworth Road; consistency in requiring building permits; more funding for programs at community centers; a resident who had a case pending; help for the old Quindaro area; and more development in the northeast area through an urban initiative program.